Analysis of the Tall Man by Chloe Hooper

he Tall Man, by Chloe Hooper was published in 2008 by the Penguin Group. The book, is Chloe Hooper's investigation into the 2004 'Death In Custody' case. The case surrounds the death of Camoran Doomadgee, an Aboriginal man in Palm Island, Queensland, Australia. The Tall Man was the result of an essay that Hooper wrote not long after the actual incidint, which was published in 'The Monthly' and earned a Walky Award. Because of the success of her article in 'The Monthly', her book was eagerly awaited by the press and fans. The Tall Man has won many awards such as 'The John Button Prize, Ned Kelly Award, and NSW and Victorian premier's Literary Awards. The book was very well recieved in reviews and praised by other authors.

This book follows Chloe Hooper on her quest through north Queensland's Palm Island, trying to uncover the truth about the death of Cameron Doomadgee. Accordin to who's story you believe Cameron either swore at a Police officer or was singing a slightly offensive song as he walked down he street. He was arrested and found dead in his holding cell forty five minutes later. The book reports what happened after, the trails, inquests and riots that made this an international news story. Chloe Hooper befriended the Doomadgee family to gain an insight into the feelings and insights behind Cameron's death. Hooper, happily acknowledges that her feelings for the Doomadgee family may prevent her from producing a 'stone hard' objective account of what happened, but the story doesn't suffer for it in the slightest.

Chloe hooper aquired her information from a number of different means. Interviews and conversations with countless people involved, the most prominant of which, being the relatives of deceased, Cameron, the Doomadgee family, who she first visited two and a half months after the death in question. She earned their trust and their friendship in order to try and communicate with the reader their feelings of grief, at times revenge and most of all, the worry that they may never see true justice for their brother, Cameron. She was unable to speak to Sergeant Hurly, who, standing at a whopping 200 cm, is 'The Tall Man' of the title. Hooper says, that as her investigation went deeper and deeper, Hurly became a more and more mysterious character, and she felt as if she was part of a real life 'Who dun'it'. She was allowed access to Police inquery reports as well as transcripts, courtasy of the Queensland supreme court. She includes statements and quotes witness of Cameron's arrest and quotes from personal interviews. Her experiences of the environments, the society, and especially the people are priceless when it comes to communicating an atmosphere or emotion and feeling. As a young, white Australian, not living in those kind of conditions, her reactions, I think, would have closley, if not absolutely, matched my own. Therefore also matching, and identifying with the main audience

The Tall Man is split into four parts and is written simply and directly with enough creative imput mixed with sincere accounts of her investigation to keep it fascinating the whole way through.Some people question he validity of her book when Hooper includes very intrcate descriptions of places a character has been, especially that of Sergeant Hurly, as she never got to interview him. She includes very creative, flowing passages about how things looked, and what people saw. One can assume this is what Hooper saw when she visited places herself and then applied it to another character's experiences. These passages, though not entirely true,

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